Recently, I purchased a vintage-look canvas map wall hanging from Hobby Lobby. It was very detailed…and very BEIGE. I thought it was going to work on a large wall in my office but when Sam saw it against the white wall he asked if there was a way to make it more colorful. OK, that question is basically my love language. You need me to make something more colorful? DONE!!!!!!!

I looked over the wall hanging carefully. Good news, it was a simple canvas that would be easy to paint. I decided that instead of flat out painting the whole canvas (it is quite large) I wanted “suggestions” of color and shading throughout the piece. I decided that watercolors would lend themselves perfectly to my vision, so I pulled together a simple palette from Target, busted out my brushes and started to work carefully.

Instead of painting the ENTIRE ocean, I outlined water (shades of blue) around the continents and islands, expanding here and there where the watercolor led.

Once water was handled, I started working on the continents, again with the same style of letting the watercolor lead. It was fun to sit back and look at each continent and “feel” what color they should be. Of course Africa needed to be shades of green and yellow for all of that gorgeous land, South America needed the heat of reds and oranges and up in Siberia and parts of Canada needed deep purples and soft greys for some cold.

The whole project start to finish probably took five hours? Maybe six? I never kept track of time because I was kind of lost in what I was doing. It was enormously therapeutic to do and trust me when I say it was easy. If you let the water do the work and exercise a light touch with the paint this is not difficult to pull off.

I am SO happy with how this turned out. This simple wall hanging has now become a focal point not only in my office but on the whole first floor. It is lively and personal and bursting with color. I will always remember painting it at our kitchen table, looking out at the horrible smokey haze from all of the fires, wishing and wondering when I would travel again. Painting this reignited my love of travel and desire to see big chunks of the world I haven’t gotten to yet.

The next time you encounter a little too much beige, don’t be afraid to pick up the paint brush and flood some color in!